Feature Management

In an operating system (OS), a feature is a logical grouping of components. In the Platform Builder integrated development environment (IDE), a feature is the smallest piece of functionality that you can select and add to a platform. You can include a feature in your platform through one of two ways.

• Setting or unsetting a Sysgen variable, which is an environment variable that corresponds to a specific feature.
• Brought in through dependency.

You can explicitly include a specific feature by, from the command-line, setting or unsetting the corresponding Sysgen variable, or in the IDE, by dragging the feature into your platform from the Catalog. These explicitly included features are called anchored features. For information about determining the Sysgen variables for a feature, see How to Check the Dependencies of a Feature. For more information about setting Sysgen variables, see Cesysgen Batch File.

Alternatively, Platform Builder may automatically include a specific feature in your platform because other features require that feature in order to function properly. These features are brought in by dependency, and are called unanchored features. If you want to remove a feature from your platform, you must remove all other features that bring it in by dependency. For more information, see Feature Dependencies.

In the IDE, you can determine whether a feature is anchored or unanchored by examining its icon. For information about icons used in the IDE, see Object Icon Types.

In contrast to features, most drivers do not have an assigned Sysgen variable and are included in a BSP-specific manner by setting a combination of Sysgen variables and BSP variables. For more information, see Driver Dependencies.

See Also

Build System | Workspace Creation | Platform Building

 Last updated on Friday, October 08, 2004

© 1992-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.